Kenya Power to pay firm Sh6 million for fire losses
The Cabinet has ordered a split of Kenya’s electricity transmission system to ensure that a power failure in one part does not affect the whole country. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The High Court has ordered Kenya Power to pay manufacturing firm Cerapack Products Sh5.9 million after a suspected electric fault caused a fire that burnt the company’s business premises 10 years ago.
Lady Justice Asenath Nyaboke Ongeri ruled on August 24 that both the power utility and the affected firm will split the cost of damage, amounting to Sh11.8 million, on a 50/50 basis saying it was not clear, which entity would be apportioned the entire blame for the fire outbreak.
Cerapack, which operates a packaging materials manufacturing plant in Nairobi’s Industrial Area, had filed the court petition on February 8, 2014, alleging that its premises had been burnt down in 2012 due to an electric fault caused by Kenya Power’s negligence.
The manufacturer broke down the damages incurred with respect to stock and premises, pegging the cost and labour of repairing the building at Sh550,000 while the cost of replacing a burnt generator set was estimated at Sh4.8 million.
Other costs included the replacement of a burnt rewinding machine (Sh800,000), destroyed packaging materials (Sh600,000) and burnt adhesive and masking tapes (Sh4 million).
Cerapack managing director Bernard Maina told the court that the utility supplied electric power to the plant through underground cables and that on February 23, 2012, the premises caught fire and burnt down its stock.
Mr Maina further submitted that a report released by the Nairobi Fire Brigade indicated that the cause of the fire was as a result of a suspected fault in Kenya Power’s main cables.
In its defence, Kenya Power said the plaintiff’s building was about five metres from the latter’s generator and from the pit where the underground service line cables connected to the premises, and therefore there would have been no conductor to pass the fire to the building.
In her ruling, Lady Justice Ongeri said the possibility of the generator having caused the fire could not be ruled out, noting that it could also be possible that the fire could have been caused by an electric fault.
